The news that multiple Oscar nominee Michelle Williams was the reader for the audiobook of Britney Spears‘ memoir “The Woman in Me” was too delightful for “Saturday Night Live” to pass up. In a pre-taped sketch for the Nov. 11 episode hosted by Timothée Chalamet, Chloe Fineman as Spears introduced a cavalcade of celebrities (or, rather, celebrity impressions) auditioning to be the reader of Britney’s book.
Fineman was everywhere in the sketch: She also played idiosyncratic actress and model Julia Fox, and a manic, borderline illiterate version of Chalamet, while the actor himself played Martin Scorsese (who recently directed Chalamet in a perfume commercial for Blue de Chanel).
Other highlights included Sarah Sherman as comedian John Mulaney, referencing his most recent stand-up special, “Baby J,” about his drug addiction (but in a funny way); Molly Kearney as actor Kevin James, but instead of reading from the memoir, Kearney just recreates the ubiquitous meme of James striking an aw-shucks pose; James Austin Johnson breaking out his Werner Herzog impression, remarking after reading some of Spears’ prose, “I am entranced by this Floridian vernacular”; and Ego Nwodim playing Jada Pinkett Smith, but instead of reading from Spears’ book, she reads from her own memoir, before yelling out, “Tupac has alopecia!”
Allison Janney, Steve-O, Fred Schneider from the B-52s, Ice Spice, Dame Maggie Smith, Bill Hader and Neil deGrasse Tyson all made appearances during the sketch as well. None of them, however, came close to the perfection of Williams’ reading of Spears’ memoir.